The Big Art Prize

This week, as the competition reaches it's second and final week of voting, we take a look at "the largest art prize in the world." (Above is an entry from Michael Glenn Monroe and is a 20 foot high Steel and cement sculpture of a tree which is holding a kaleidoscope filled with natural items that the visitors can look through.)

Voted on by the public using modern networking technology, the ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids, MI is a very unique experiment in connecting the masses to the scene of contemporary art. Here is a quote from their website:

"At ArtPrize, any artist—from established to emerging—has the chance to show work. Any visitor can vote. The vote will determine who wins the largest art prize in the world. We also took the unusual step to allow people in the city to open a venue and choose the artists to show in their space. There is not one official curator or jury for the competition. The number of venues is fluid, so the number of competing artists is fluid. The possibilities are wide open."

Some tidbits:
Top prize: $250,000
Dates: September 23 - October 10
Winner is determined by public vote
All attendees of the event can vote
Top 10 entries will receive a prize (Totalling $500,000)
Multiple artists can collaborate on an entry
Artists may only submit one entry
Property owners/renters in downtown Grand Rapids can become a venue
Number of artists represented is only limited by number of venues that become available

Here is a clip made by one of the top contenders, Rob Bliss, who gathered 20,000+ people to watch 100,000 paper airplanes falling from the top of large buildings in the city:

SOME OTHER CONTESTANTS:

"The Red Ball": Kurt Perschke
"Through the RedBall Project I utilize my opportunity as an artist to be a catalyst for new encounters within the everyday. Through the magnetic, playful, and charismatic nature of RedBall the work is able to access the imagination embedded in all of us. On the surface, the experience seems to be about the ball itself as an object, but the true power of the project is what it can create for those who experience it. It opens a doorway to imagine what if? As RedBall travels around the world people approach me on the street with excited suggestions about where to put it in their city. In that moment the person is not a spectator but a participant in the act of imagination. I have witnessed it across continents always issuing an invitation. That invitation to engage, to collectively imagine, is the true essence of the project. The larger arc of the project is how each city responds and what the developing story reveals about our individual and cultural imagination."

"Surf - N- Turf": Derek Maxfield
"A live exhibition, and an underwater colored ice and snow sculpture, these unconventional materials are used to create a three-dimensional sculpture with a main focal point being a of a stylized tiger shark swimming through its habitat.

The unique attraction will be set up in a freezer truck. The trucks over all dimensions are 26 feet long, 7.5 feet wide and 11 feet tall. The sculpture will be viewed at the rear of the truck through a window. A 10’X 10’ platform or stage will be used to raise the viewers to look through a 5 foot by 5 foot window into the truck. Sculpting ice at above freezing temperatures will be interesting to see.

I enjoy the idea of turning water into art. The essential ingredient for life itself, H2O covers a staggering 70 percent of earth’s surface. A human body is comprised of 60–70% water and a plant body up to 90%. Sculpting water in it’s solid state then seeing the metamorphosis into a liquid when melted or a gas when it sublimates has always intrigued me."

Check out more at the top 100 list!: http://www.artprize.org/artist-top100List